Collecting Cape May Diamonds

We stayed at the Super 8 in Van Horn so that I could watch America’s Next Top Model, but it turns out that Van Horn doesn’t get “the new CW”.. so no ANTM for me. Wah…(but Justin did get to see LOST, so it wasn’t a total bust) However, it was so nice to actually get some sleep. Feeling well rested, and full of spunk, we set out for a day of filming for the “Mineral Collecting in Central Texas” Video.

Our first stop was a calcite location in a road cut, off the 10. This place was awesome, there were calcite rhombs just falling out of the matrix. If it wasn’t for all the bees living in the holes created from oh so many rockhounds before us, we could have collected a truck load. lol

Afterward it was off to the quaint little village of Balmorhea. This small Texas town sports a recreational lake and a population of 500. That of course is not counting the cows… So many cows.

Some were happily eating grass beside one of the many agate locations in the area…

…and some were not.

Of course this wasn’t all the creatures to be seen while out and about.

Before heading out we stopped to admire the lovely canal that runs through town.

About 26 miles north of Balmorhea, is the even smaller “town” of Toyah. I use the word “town” in the loosest sense of the word. What it doesn’t have in amenities, it makes up for in excellent petrified wood and multi-colored translucent agates. Justin and I have been to our share of agate locations, and this was by far one of the best, not only for quanity, but also for quality and accessability.

Of course, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” (and Brandy very surely), so on our way out of Toyah, we decided to stop and investigate some of the old abandoned structures.

According to our 1974 guide book, we were supposed to cross over this bridge to get to the collecting spot. Lucky for us, the good people of the Texas Department of Tranpostation decided to build a better way.

Good thing I went in Balmorhea!

Just to prove how many agates are really to be found in Toyah here are two that Justin found. Not the greatest, but hey, they did come from the parking lot of the abandoned, burned out Texico.

Before leaving, Tom told us about a stauralite and garnet location in Lisbon, New Hampshire, beside Pearl Lake. Justin had directions from an old publication, but the area had changed quite a lot over the years, so the roads weren’t exactly what we expected. After a little bit of back-tracking we finaly found the location, across the road from a pull off.

We were shocked to see huge plates of stauralite and garnets in mica jutting out of the dirt, and loose smaller pieces scattered everwhere.

Justin wasted no time, and immediately set to removing a nice large plate.

After loading the car up, we drove just a little further into nowhere to collect pyrite crystals in shale from a road cut.

We collected specimens from the ground and the wall.

Then we crossed the street to collect in the shale beside the stream that paralels the road.